toolshttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/taxonomy/term/21/all
enProduct Warranties vs. The Big Chain Storeshttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/content/product-warranties-vs-big-chain-stores
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The NJ Tool Show is an annual event that my tool-nut friend and I eagerly anticipate all year. We get to see all the latest innovations in shop tools, from programmable laser cutters that sliced with such precision that they could duplicate a business card in 6 point type in a piece of oak veneer to shade tree inventions that seemed to have no practical use at all. It's tool porn, no doubt about it.<br /><br />
At one of the shows, maybe 2001, I ducked outside into the freezing January weather to grab a smoke -- a habit I'm glad to say I kicked many years ago. Outside I met a district rep for a well-known German power tool maker. We chatted about the show and I expressed surprise not to see either Home Depot or Lowes in attendance. After all, both were huge tool retailers in the NYC area. He grunted and said that the worst decision his company had ever made was to bring in big chain stores as retailers for their products.<br /><br />
I commented on how much cheaper it was to buy tools from these stores than from dedicated tool stores like A.W. Meyer.<em> "Guess it's their volume advantage, right?"</em> He said I was correct, except not in the way I thought. These stores were able to use their clout as volume sellers to make the companies build models just for them, cutting corners to save costs. He said that's mostly why they're cheaper. <em>"Wait. Are you saying that the same tool bought at a big chain store isn't the same as one bought at, say, Wankel's Hardware on 3rd Ave?"</em> Yup.</p>
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<p>I was stunned by that. Half of the small power tools in my shop were purchased at big chain stores. Maybe this is why I'd had to replace my orbital sander twice in two years and my Milwaukee drill hasn't been the same since I used it with a paddle to stir up a bucket of plaster. But it still sounded like disgruntled employee talk.<br /><br />
A few months later I was in the market for a demolition saw to begin my first floor renovation. I went to a Home Depot on Hamilton Ave and bought a Milwaukee Super Sawzall. Demo saws get a lot of abuse so I wanted a tough one. Since I was a kid I knew that Milwaukee power tools cost more but they came with its famous lifetime warranty.<br /><br />
I got home and plugged it in. The motor ran but the blade didn't move. So it was back to Home Depot and an hour-long wait in the Returns line, where I was cheerfully issued a replacement saw. Back home, same thing: motor ran/blade didn't move. Back to Home Depot again but this time I told the "sales associate" that I wanted to see the saw working. He plugged it in and it ran. One year + one month later, it stopped working, just like the others. The weird thing is that it broke while I was cutting a relatively soft piece of copper pipe.<br /><br />
Rats. Back to Home Depot for another replacement. However, I was told that since the tool was more than a couple of months old it had to be sent out for repair. Their turn-around was <strong>six weeks(!)</strong>. I needed it working <strong>today </strong>so he advised me to take it to a local Milwaukee factory repair facility. I brought it to one I found on Coney Island Ave. As soon as he opened the case, the boss exclaimed, "Ah, a Home Depot Special".<br /><br />
Wait, wot? How did he know that? He showed me: plastic gears and plastic connector rods and it was the plastic clutch in mine that had broken. He had another Sawzall in for repair and already open on the bench -- a "real" Milwaukee, even though they were both sold in boxes that said "Milwaukke Super Sawzall". Metal parts. There's no question they weren't the same saw internally. The German tool rep was right!<br /><br />
Worse, my "Home Depot Special" didn't have Milwaukee's famous lifetime warranty. In fact, it didn't even have Milwaukee's more recent five-year warranty on power tools. Mine had expired a month earlier after only one year! WTF? It cost me $130 to save $30 by buying it at a Big Chain Store. That's a mistake I'll never make again. <br /><br />
Later I expressed my outrage to a Home Depot "Tool Corral" manager about this. He said that the longer warranty would have been honored if Home Depot had done the repair. But who can wait a month and a half for a tool fix when you're in the middle of a job? The point is, the saw shouldn't have failed to begin with. My plumber has a 20 year-old Sawzall that's never been in for repair.<br /><br />
Moving forward, last week after a heavy rain I noticed that my kitchen slider wasn't sliding too easily. Something was restricting it. The botttom of the door was bulging. The weather seals had failed allowing water to enter and causing the interior wood to swell. The door was 15 years old. You can see the installation <a href="http://www.brooklynrowhouse.com/house/kitchen" target="_blank">here</a> back in 2000. I recalled that Anderson has a 20 year warranty so I called the company hoping that they would at least send me a couple of new doors. I was wrong -- only the glass has 20 years. The other parts come with a 10 year guarantee.<br /><br />
Bummer, but there's more to this story. The Anderson rep asked me to find the "Anderson triangle" etched on the glass. There was none. It had the Anderson logo on a couple of badges on the exterior but she said those weren't determinate of an Anderson product. It has to have it etched on the glass to be covered under warranty. In other words, the door never had an Anderson warranty. Outrageous.<br /><br />
Where was it purchased? At the same Hamilton Ave Home Depot. I went with the Frank O'Donnell, my GC, to buy it so there's no question who sold it or that it was indeed sold as an Anderson door.<br /><br />
Consumer fraud? I think so but the perpetrators are on both sides. The manufacturers are equally guilty of shilling warranties in their sales materials that quietly don't apply to products purchased at these stores. Customers buy these high-end, name brand products expecting top quality and what they get are second-tier items with inferior warranties. </p>
<p>Want a quality tool? Buy it from your local hardware store. Failing that, use AW Meyer in Ridgefield, NJ.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/85" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shopping</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/52" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">home renovation</a></div></div></div>Tue, 14 Jul 2015 15:05:00 +0000Steve220 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comAin't it the truth?https://brooklynrowhouse.com/content/aint-it-truth
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><img alt="" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/manuals.png" style="width: 587px; height: 187px;" /><br /><br />
Exhibit A: pressure washers with manuals that don't tell you to drain the sump before putting it away for the winter.<br /><br />
Hello, Pressure Washer #4!<br /><br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div></div></div>Tue, 29 Apr 2014 09:48:19 +0000Steve215 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comThe Tormek Blade Sharpening Systemhttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/node/187
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded">Shop owners love to brag about the incredible tool buys they've made on eBay, at flea markets and at estate auctions. Like my $50 Hitachi framing nailer and $125 radial arm saw.
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But most of us have also made purchases we're less proud of, like the $100 "miracle corner clamping system" I bought at a tool show which turned out to be utterly useless for anything besides building the tiny box the salesman demonstrated at the show. Naturally, we don't talk much about those overpriced white elephants, which is probably why these hucksters are still in business.
<br /><br /><img src="http://www.tormek.com/images/machines/tormek_t7_system_370.jpg" class="floatleft" />
Then there are those purchases that fall somewhere in the middle: useful tools with staggering price tags that don't really justify the tool's performance. When I purchased the <a href="http://www.tormek.com/en/" target="_blank">Tormek T7 wet grinder</a> at the International Woodworking Show in New Jersey, I was afraid I'd made just such a buy. After purchasing the optional jigs and accesories I needed for my planer and jointer blades, knives and scissors I walked out of the convention center almost $700 lighter.
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Indeed, there's not much to this tool. It's basically just a slow-turning motor with a couple of wheels, a plastic bath tub and a steel frame. But it does an excellent job. Over the past four years I've taken for granted how much it's meant to always have sharp blades, chisels and knives in the shop.
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Sure, experienced old timers can accomplish this manually with a sharening stone but it's a skill I don't have nor am I particularly eager to learn it with my expensive blades. There's more to it than just rubbing a blade against a block, like maintaining the precise bevel. Get this wrong on a 12" planer blade and you might as well toss the set and buy new ones.
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That's how I balance -- or possibly rationalize -- the cost of the Tormek. I was spending a hundred bucks a year on new planer and jointer blades before the Tormek but I haven't bought a single set since. As an added bonus, I have scary sharp chisels, scissors and kitchen knives too.
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In fact, if you've never had a knife professionally sharpened before you don't know how sharp they can be. Perhaps for liability reasons, brand new, store bought knives are usually pretty dull by comparison.
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<br clear="all" /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZqYbD_UUT-Q&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZqYbD_UUT-Q&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
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More Tormek instructional videos are <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&amp;search_query=tormek&amp;aq=f" target="_blank">available here</a>.
<br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div></div></div>Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:12:53 +0000Steve187 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comLeaf Vacuums and Big Ideashttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/node/156
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded">In my relentless quest to acquire every possible tool before I leave this planet, this weekend I picked up a leaf vacuum.
<br /><br />
Thanks to my neighbor's regrettable decision to plant a bunch of poplars in his yard, all of which grew to over 60 feet in a few short years, my back yard maintenance has increased several-fold, especially this time of year. If you have any experience with poplars you know that they shed like sheepdogs. It was all the excuse I needed to invest in a new electric tool. No more acoustic brooms for me!
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Lowes carried Black &amp; Decker, Toro and Troy-Bilt. They were all 12 amps, all fairly heavy, all injection molded plastic and they're probably all made in the same Chinese factory. So I looked for details on the box to close the sale. The B&amp;D had a "metal impeller". I wasn't sure what difference that made, but it was ten bucks more than the others so it had to be better, right?
<br /><br /><img src="http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/885911/885911026628md.jpg" class="floatleft" />
I wanted to write a review of the Black &amp; Decker but it died on me five minutes into its maiden voyage. The motor started making a clicking noise, slowed down, started smoking... I took that as a clue.
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I've never had much luck with Black &amp; Decker, from the toaster oven that caught fire to the power screwdriver than came apart in my hand. Okay, their stuff is pure crap. I mostly acquire B&amp;D junk only by way of well-meaning gift givers. Folks, I have no product advertisers here for a reason.
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Lowes took the return in good spirit. The nice lady at the return desk said, "Another one, huh?" I thought she was asking if I wanted to replace it, which I didn't. Instead, without looking up she pointed at the wall where there were two more expired B&amp;D leaf vacs.
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<br /><br />
Maybe this was a pretty useful product review after all.
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Undeterred, I took the cash from the return and bought the Toro.
<br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/021038/021038515922md.jpg" class="floatright" />
The Toro was a bit easier to assemble and it managed to get through its first fifteen minutes of life without grenading. But, man, it was one of the most un-bloody-comfortable tools I've ever used. And I thought power post hole augers were torture. I just couldn't get the balance of the thing. My back and arms were so strained from wrestling with this tool that my hands were literally shaking.
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In its defense, it did a good job. But, you know, it only has a PLASTIC impeller so I had to be extra careful about what it sucked up. The manual is very clear about that: no rocks, no pine cones, no twigs... no twigs?! When poplars shed they also shed lots of twigs. What am I supposed to do? Get on my hands and knees and sort through piles of leaves looking for lethal twigs before vacuuming?
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Looks like the Toro was a bust as well.
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You know what actually works pretty well? I've used it for the past three years to clean up the back yard so I know it's up to the task: my old Shop Vac. There are only two problems. One is that the nozzle tends to clog. The other is that the unmulched leaves fill up that five-gallon container quickly.
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That set my inventive mind to work. Suppose there was a mulcher attachment for the Shop Vac? Basically, it would be a hose replacement. You'd have a little motor-powered mulcher that slides into the standard 2-1/2" diameter intake. At the other end would be a twelve foot 4" diameter hose.
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That would be perfect! Of course it would have a METAL impeller.
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My brother had ten US patents by the time he was my age. I need to get busy.
<br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div></div></div>Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:06:52 +0000Steve156 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comGot a shop? You need this stuff!https://brooklynrowhouse.com/boeshield
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded">Last weekend, my boss and I made the trek to the annual NJ Woodworking Show. Jeb has a pretty nice woodworking shop but his passion is car and motorcycle restoration. He's done several old bikes -- Velocettes and Moto Guzzis -- but his current project is a 1955 Land Rover. The Rover looked like it had been parked at the bottom of a river for the last fifty years but after two years he's nearing paint and finish, which means he needed supplies, which means we both needed to hit the show.
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I've been looking for a decent steel tool deck cleaner for a couple of years. Nothing I've tried worked much better than WD40, #00 steel wool and carnuba wax. Jeb told me that he'd had good results with Boeshield and, sure enough, we found it at the show. It's expensive but it was worth a try.
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Boeshield was developed by Boeing for cleaning metal airplane shells. It's actually a family of specialized products but the T9 aerosol is the centerpiece. It's like a super deluxe WD40 with an incorporated wax for longer protection.
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If you don't have machined steel deck tools you probably don't know how vulnerable they are to moisture and stains. In extreme cases, the raw steel can actually get pitted from chemicals as mild as simple table sugar. My Delta Unisaw and Jet jointer were in bad shape.
<br /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/boeshield01.jpg" alt="ugly jointer" title="Jet jointer" /><br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/boeshield02.jpg" alt="ugly jointer" title="Jet jointer" class="floatright" />
Let's look a little closer. What the hell happened to this thing??
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I know what a couple of those stains are. One was Karen's sweating Coke can (after I told her to keep it off the tools... do I really need to provide drink coasters in my shop?) And several off those stains were water drips from the overhead coolant lines to the upstairs split-unit air conditioners. I don't what that big stain to the left is. All I know was that WD40 didn't get rid of it.
<br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/boeshield03.jpg" alt="boeshield" title="Boeshield products" class="floatleft" />
The spray can is T9. That goes on last. Up first was the gum and tar remover. Spray, let it sit for 60 seconds, then scrub with #00 steel wool and wipe off with paper towels. Next was the rust and stain remover. As soon as I sprayed it I recognized the smell: phosphoric acid. That removed most of the stains, although it took three passes. Then it's sprayed with T9 and wiped down.
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Success! Well, not quite. Fifteen minutes later the deck felt like it was covered in sticky old paste wax. I dug at it with my fingernail and that's exactly what it was. Old wax. Boeshield didn't do a very good job of removing that old wax. It simply suspended itself in the various solutions and then dried. Drat.
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A wipe down with mineral spirits fixed that. In Boeshield's defense, there must have been 20 layers of carnuba wax on that deck. You really need a petroleum solvent to get it off. Anyway, after an additional treatment with T9 here was the result.
<br /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/boeshield05.jpg" alt="pretty jointer" title="Jet jointer" /><br clear="all" /><br />
I haven't decided whether or not I should wax it too. I think I'll leave it as is for now to see how well Boeshield works as protection.
<br /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/boeshield04.jpg" alt="boeshield" title="Boeshield products" class="floatright" />
Afterwards, I did my table saw too. That was even tougher because an idiot had used the saw as an assembly table to glue fabric to some window shades. The spray glue soaked through and discolored the steel. I was that idiot, by the way.
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Anyway, it's all pretty now. But it reminds me of an entry from the Tyromaniac's Notebook that I'd like to pass along. DON'T use Naval Jelly to remove rust stains from a steel table saw deck. The stuff is way too caustic. Those were the hardest stains to remove.
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PS: I realize that I've been real lax about updating my blog since December. I even got a letter from one of the blog reflectors asking me if I'd abandoned BrooklynRowHouse. I haven't. I've just been neck deep in a software project for the Children's Health Fund. I'll be reporting on the upcoming stained glass projects soon.
<br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/16" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shop</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div></div></div>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 03:52:12 +0000Steve105 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comYet another "cool tool" articlehttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/node/67
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded">I've blathered a lot on the blog about the coolness of routers but another tool I use quite a bit is a biscuit joiner.
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Wuzzat? A social dinner roll? Bread glue?
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It's a tool I first saw TOH demigod, Norm Abrams, use back in the 80s. Okay, let's be honest: Norm has a shop full of bizarre, narrow purpose tools. But a biscuit (or plate) joiner is really useful, especially for edge-laminating boards as I'm about to do here. It can also be used to strengthen mitered corners or to insert alignment pins. I did the latter when I installed the heavy mahogany header in my garage door surround.
<br /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/jointer01.jpg" class="floatleft" />A biscuit joiner is a mini-circular saw mounted horizontally on a spring loaded handle. Its sole job is to cut a crescent-shaped slot in a board for an oval "biscuit", which is a piece of (usually) beech wood or compressed beech wood shavings. Functionally, the biscuit works like a dowel but without the sheer strength of a dowel.
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So why not use a dowel instead? Because dowels have to be drilled with a great deal of precision -- more precision than most home tyromaniacs like me can achieve, especially on a long board with several dowels. A biscuit's profile makes it possible to adjust the boards +- 1/16th inch after final assembly... at least until the glue swells the biscuits and the boards lock permanently into place.
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Here, I'm edge-laminating a 1x3 piece to a 1x8. (Ignore the routed profile on the edge of the 1x3. That was from a failed experiment. I'll cut it off later when I size the shelf, which needs to be 9-1/2" wide.) Why don't I just use a wider board? Two reasons. One, a 1x10 is pricey. But mainly, laminating boards makes for a stronger and more stable panel. The grains in the respective boards work against each other to keep a panel from cupping or twisting. Think "butcher's block".
<br /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/jointer03.jpg" class="floatright" />
Stock lumber rarely has a square and straight edge, especially if it's been sitting in a dry shop like mine for a few months. So the first step is to make sure the edges of the two boards are dead straight and perpendicular. I use my jointer/planer for that.
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I edge joint the board in 1/32" increments until it's perfectly straight, which you can tell when the jointer blade makes contact along the entire length of the board.
<br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/jointer02.jpg" class="floatleft" />
The next step is to clamp the boards together and draw pencil lines across the seam. These will be guides for the index mark on the biscuit joiner. You'll also use those lines when you assemble the boards.
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Next, cut slots in both boards with the biscuit joiner. No photo is necessary here. Just put the joiner's index line on the pencil mark, squeeze the trigger and push it in. Done.
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A tip: press the board firmly against the deck because any slight arch in the board will result in a misaligned joint later. I clamp the board to my table saw, which is the flattest thing I have in my shop. Use a clamp over each slot.
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It's always a good idea to dry fit the boards before gluing, if only to make sure you haven't missed a slot and that your biscuits will fit. Room humidity can cause biscuits to swell so you want to get rid of those before you commit to using them.
<br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/jointer04.jpg" class="floatright" />
Using a biscuit applicator on a glue bottle, spread a decent coating of glue in each slot. I tend to overdo it here because glue is a critical component in the strength of the biscuit. The moisture is sucked up by the biscuit causing it to swell and weld itself into the slot. Then run a glue roller over the edge of the board. Do this for both boards.
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Insert biscuits in the slots in one of the boards, centering them. Then assemble the two boards. I usually start at one end and, using a bar clamp, gently press them together.
<br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/jointer05.jpg" class="floatleft" />
Once all the biscuits are in their respective slots, slap a bunch of bar clamps on the assembly and squeeze them home. Distribute clamps on both sides of the board for equal tension. Then set it aside for about 30 minutes for the glue to cure.
<br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/jointer06.jpg" class="floatright" />
There's almost always a tiny bit of misalignment of the boards. A planer or sander will fix that. If you're skilled (and lucky) it will be hard to spot the glue line later. <i>Hint: that big gap is the two shelves side by side.</i>
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What usually gives the seam away is the abrupt change of grain. A really hardcore woodworker (which I'm not) will both color and grain match laminated lumber so that it's almost impossible to see that glue line.
<br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/shop/jointer07.jpg" /><br /><br />
Tomorrow, I'll rip these to width and mould a front edge on them. I'll also probably build up the edge to 1-1/4" thick to give the shelf a bit more visual weight.
<br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/23" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">woodworking</a></div></div></div>Sat, 24 Feb 2007 01:52:28 +0000Steve67 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comTen gallons of sawdust later...https://brooklynrowhouse.com/node/66
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded">I finished cutting 208 feet of bolection moulding for the wainscotting in the bedroom reno and guess what? I needed 216 feet to complete the job, dammit! I knew I was cutting it close (literally) but I only had a couple of (expensive) red oak 1x8s left which I need for the wainscotting shelf. I'll dig into my red oak scrap pile and cut the remainder this afternoon.<br /><br />
Anyway, I was right. A bolection moulding a/k/a inset panel cap moulding a/k/a rabbeted panel moulding is just an inverted base cap profile with a rabbet. After my router bit quest, I settled on a $28 base cap bit from Woodside.<!--break--><img class="floatleft" src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/bedroom/bedroom60.jpg" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" /><br /><br />
So it was back to the shop to rip a bunch of red oak to the 1-1/4" width I needed for 26 eight-foot blanks, which I thought would do the job if I planned my cuts carefully.<br /><br />
Man, this shop needs cleaning and reorganizing after six months of this renovation!<br clear="all" /><br /><img class="floatright" src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/bedroom/bedroom56.jpg" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" />But what started off as a two bit job (hey!) became three bits. I didn't like the abrupt return to the panel so I modified it with a step down. These are the three bits I wound up using to cut this bolection moulding.<br /><br />
From left to right: the base cap bit, the concave bit and the rabbeting bit. Pretty colors!<br /><br />
The set up was the most tedious part of the job, which is why I'm so annoyed that I have to go through it all over again for another eight feet.<br /><br />
I ran some test cuts of the base cap bit on scrap plywood until I got the depth and length I needed. This was pretty much established by the fixed profile and length of the bit but you still need to set up the fence and vertical depth on the router. Then I ran a bunch of 1x6 oak through the table saw to get the 1-1/4" width of the bit profile. Why 1x6? Because the leftovers gave me the stock I need to cut the quarter-round shoe moulding I'll need after the new floor is down, if three times as much as I'm actually gonna need.<br clear="all" /><br /><img class="floatleft" src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/bedroom/bedroom61.jpg" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" /> Then it was four passes through the router, dropping the fence back in steps to avoid chunking the wood. You never want to cut deep profiles in one pass because you can damage the bit, the collet and especially the wood. Ask me how I learned that one. The last pass was barely 1/16" deep to shave the surface smooth.<br /><br />
Next was a concave bit. I didn't need the concave; I needed the very bottom edge of it to create that little step down.<br /><br />
Finally, using a 3/8" depth pilot bearing on a rabbeting bit, I made the dado for the back. This creates a recess for the raised rails and stiles of the wainscotting and hides that square edge.<br clear="all" /><br /><img class="floatleft" src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/bedroom/bedroom55.jpg" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" />... and here, at last, is the finished profile.<br /><br />
Whew. Next time, I think I'll spend more time looking for prefab moulding. Probably twenty bucks worth of red oak was sucked up by the dust collector.<br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/bedroom/bedroom57.jpg" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" /><br /><br />
Anyway, here's the result. I think it made those rather dull panels pop! It's a bit more formal than I was originally going for but as Kathy commented on the blog, I'd never be happy with the plain, square-edged paneling. <a href="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/bedroom/bedroom19.jpg" target="_new">Here</a> is what it looked like <a href="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/bedroom/bedroom19.jpg" target="_new">before the bolection moulding</a>.<br clear="all" /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/bedroom/bedroom59.jpg" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" /><br /><br />
And here's a view towards the bay window.<br clear="all" /><br /><img class="floatleft" src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/bedroom/bedroom58.jpg" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" />... and finally a little fisheye of just the panels.<br clear="all" /><br />
And, now, on to the shelf for the top of that tall wainscotting. I was going to do this with plywood but decided to do it in solid oak instead, mainly because I'm too lazy to make a trip to the lumberyard.<br clear="all" /><br /><img class="floatleft" src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/art/radiator_grill.gif" style="margin: 6px; float: left;" /> I also found the radiator vents I needed for the center panel at <a href="http://www.atlantasupply.com/">Atlanta Supply</a>. I just have to modify it because it's an angled baseboard vent. I was originally looking for a decorative cast iron vent but I couldn't find anything in the size I needed that also didn't cost as much as the radiator.<br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/23" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">woodworking</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/39" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">master bedroom</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">carpentry</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">finish carpentry</a></div></div></div>Thu, 22 Feb 2007 21:03:13 +0000Steve66 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comTool Show Post Mortem: The Good, the Bad, the Uglyhttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/node/65
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded">I'm glad the Somerset Tool Show moved back it to the Exhibit Center because it was suffering at the Ramapo convention center. There were lots of new vendors this year, and lots of new tools.
<br /><br />
My primary misson however was finding a router bit to cut the bolection mouldings for the wainscotting in my bedroom reno. The router bit yodas I was counting on for enlightenment were no help. One guy even told me I needed a shaper to get that profile. He must have noticed me looking at him like he had two heads because he followed up with, "...but maybe not."
<br /><br />
So I was forced to do hard forensics. After digging through hundreds of bit profiles, I found what I needed at Woodside. Know what? There's nothing special about a bolection moulding. It's just a deep base cap moulding with an "aftermarket" 3/8" rabbet. Doh! Why couldn't I have seen this before?? I bought one and ran a test cut on my router table. It works. Now I have to knock off about 300 linear feet of it.
<br /><br />
The tool show usually has a fair amount of vendors selling "miracle" tools which are often little more than homemade jigs constructed from acrylic plastic or billet aluminum. Two bucks worth of material selling for fifty dollars. Who would pay for such things? Probably the same people who buy miracle spark plugs and gasoline additives at car shows.
<br /><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/art/jevon_square.jpg" alt="Jevon 3D Square" class="floatleft" />
I spotted one potential huckster two minutes after I got there. He was selling what looked like standard angle iron (albeit made from aluminum) for squaring cabinets during assembly. At first I was amused at the interest he was getting from the crowd until I realized what a brilliantly simple idea it was. Anyone who has dry assembled a cabinet knows what a bitch it is to get the pieces square and to keep them there. Bar clamps usually torque the carcass out of square. Worst case, the whole assembly falls apart just as you're installing the last panel.
<br /><br />
What's special about these innocuous brackets is that, unlike stock angle iron, they're dead square to a tolerance of .002". I checked them with an Incra square just to be sure. They also have ears on them which work with spring clamps. Finally, with the aluminum being 3/16" thick it gives the perfect clearance for dry fitting a stained glass or floating panel in a frame before assembling it. So I bought eight of them. I also bought sixteen 2" spring clamps at 99 cents each from Peachtree.
<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5509&amp;sid=AFL93">
<img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/art/besseyclamp.jpg" border="0" alt="Bessey K-Body Clamps and Kit" class="floatleft" /></a> I was also in the market for some long clamps and ran across this nifty product from Bessey called a K-Body Clamp. Besides functioning as a standard bar clamp, they're excellent as a jig for building dead-square cabinet doors and window and picture frames. Tightening/loosening the diagonal corner clamps pulls the object into square while also elevating it above the assembly table so the piece doesn't rack. They can also work as a spreader. This was my big purchase at the show.
<br /><br />
Another questionable product was stainless steel sandpaper. The manufacturer claims that it has 30x the life of a standard 5" sanding disk. But it also costs about 50x more.
<br /><br />
All in all, it was a great show.
<br /><br />
Now the Ugly. With all these purchases, I was lugging around a lot of weight and the exhibit hall doesn't have lockers nor even an attended coat room in which to park your stash. So the exhibitors are usually pretty accommodating about letting you stash your packages with them for pick up before you leave. I had assembled all my bags into one large blue plastic bag and left it with the Peachtree cashier, along with my (very heavy) K-Body clamps. When I returned to pick them up, Joyce offered to carry the big blue bag back to the car while I hauled the clamps. I warned her that the bag was heavy but she said it was nothing. I was impressed!
<br /><br />
However, she was right. When I got home I found that that bag had been ransacked by a thief. The 3D squares, several boxes of sandpaper, glue brushes, an auxiliary power switch, several catalogs and some other stuff... all gone. Making matters worse was that my credit card receipts were in those bags.
<br /><br />
I called Citibank Mastercard and they canceled the card. But it turned out that my Citicard has purchase theft protection so they credited those losses back to my card! It made the day somewhat less ugly.
<br /><br /><b>Post-Post Mortem:</b> my missing stuff was found! I just got a call from John. It was in his car all along. Joyce had broken my stuff out into two blue bags and one of them had fallen between the seats in his Excursion or something. My faith in humanity just went back up a millimeter.
<br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div></div></div>Sun, 18 Feb 2007 16:09:46 +0000Steve65 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comThe Somerset (NJ) Woodworking Show - any NYC area bloggers going?https://brooklynrowhouse.com/node/62
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><a href="http://www.thewoodworkingshows.com"><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/art/woodworkingshow_logo.gif" /></a>
<pre>
Feb 16-18, 2007
Garden State Exhibit Center
50 Atrium Drive
Somerset, NJ
(exit 19, Route 287)
</pre>
Sponsored by <a href="http://www.thewoodworkingshows.com">Wood Magazine</a>
<br /><br />
This will be like my 8th or 9th visit to this show. It's like a crack house for
woodworking junkies. Every conceivable tool, useful or not, is on display and usually being demonstrated. At least half of my present shop was purchased at one of these shows, including my Delta X Unisaw and Dewalt SCMS. I also load up on all my sandpaper, nitrile gloves and other consumables for the year. The prices are that good.
<br /><br />
If there's an answer to my still unanswered question, "what router bits do I need to make bolection moulding?", this is where I'll find it. All the router bit gurus are there from CMT, Freud and Whiteside.
<br /><br />
I've never done a seminar there but there are two that are particularly timely for me at this stage of the bedroom reno: Doors &amp; Drawers and Understanding Finishes. Most of the seminars are free, BTW.
<br /><br />
Plaid shirt and pot belly optional.
<br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/23" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">woodworking</a></div></div></div>Sun, 11 Feb 2007 06:08:07 +0000Steve62 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comLabor Day Snoozerhttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/node/10
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded">This was the first Labor Day weekend since I got this place that I wasn't knee deep in some h/i project. Last year I was in the middle of the <a href="/house/guestroom">guest room renovation</a>. Now, I'm waiting for lumber estimates so I can start on the master bedroom rehab. I took the opportunity to hack on my Drupal software here and to play with the Categories and Views modules on a private Drupal instance. Nice software but, man, does it need a coherent manual.
<br /><br />
We got some of Ernesto on Friday/Saturday. The wind down here on NY Harbor was pretty fierce so there was clean up to do, which is about as clumsy a segue as I can make to my house topic o' the day: compressors.
<br /><br />
I've got a 20-gallon compressor. It's one of my favorite tools in the shop -- not just for what it typically does but for some of the oddball uses you can put it to, like drying off a washed car and blowing out the shop after a sanding marathon. It can even take out a mosquito at six feet. Today it was my broom.
<br /><br />
I bought a cheap pressure gun wand from <a href="http://www.harborfreight.com/">Harbor Freight</a> a few years ago and use that to sweep off my stoop and sidewalk. Unlike a broom, it reaches into corners and under parked cars. It's also excellent for blowing dead leaves out of a flower bed.
<br /><br />
While I was waiting, and waiting, to close on this house I had some pretty whacky things I wanted to build into the place. One was a permanent compressor port on each floor. The other was a whole house beer tap. Suffice to say, I didn't do either one but I really regret not running the copper for that compressor when I had the walls open. It would have saved me several trips over the hundred-foot compressor hose snaking its way two stories up from the basement.
<br /><br />
The most bizarre compressor application I've heard of <b>has</b> to be an urban legend. On the other hand, when I read that 40% of Americans reject the scientific basis of human evolution I've gotta think there's someone out there dumb enough to try it.
<br /><br />
A guy needed a braising torch to work on his car. He couldn't afford one so he had a brilliant idea. He hauled his compressor into the kitchen and jury-rigged a fitting from the compressor's air inlet to the natural gas outlet. Then he filled the 20-gallon tank with gas, readied his homemade torch, flipped the switch and... you can figure out how this story ended.
<br /><br />
On that note, the <a href="http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh">This Old House</a> web site has a cool pictorial series called <a href="http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tohnews/gallery/0,25895,1220600,00.html">Home Inspection Nightmares</a>. Check it out. A light switch in the shower??
<br /><br />
Several years ago, a home inspector on the Harley Davidson Usenet newsgroup, rec.motorcycles.harley, sent me a photo of something he said he had encountered. A home owner wanted to be able to listen to music while laying on a raft in his swimming pool. To power his ghetto blaster, he made a floating electrical outlet from an old dishwashing detergent bottle, a duplex outlet and lots of masking tape. In his defense, he used a GFCI outlet. I've gotta find where I archived that picture.
<br /><br />
I go up to Nantucket four or five times a year to work on a friend's house and scarf cohog chowda' till I leave a butter slick. At the local Buildings Dept they have a Wall of Shame containing pictures of violations that the inspectors have encountered. Some of them are priceless. Why someone whose house is sitting on raw land worth seven figures would want to cut corners like these, I can't fathom. Like the guy who used a vaccuum cleaner hose to tie his washing machine's drain to the main stack.
<br /><br />
Then there's the current winner of the annual <a href="http://www.darwinawards.com/">Darwin Awards</a>:
<br /><pre>
(2006, Adelaide, Australia)
In the suburbs of Adelaide, "the undisputed cannabis capital of Australia", sleeping
residents were awakened by a resounding explosion. A smoking hole was found in a
neighbor's backyard, still reeking of the pungent odor of marijuana.
Police found the remains of a man at the bottom of the hole.
They learned that the deceased had setup a hidden hydroponic system in a large
water tank buried in his backyard. He used a CO2 generator -- a small flame
from a butane gas bottle -- to improve plant growth. On this particular evening,
the man had climbed down into his garden paradise, only to find that the flame
had gone out. Without knowing how many days the gas had been leaking into his,
er, bomb, he re-lit the flame.
</pre>
And... done.
<br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">x10</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">electrical</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div></div></div>Mon, 04 Sep 2006 05:11:56 +0000Steve10 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comSkim Coat (almost) Like a Prohttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/magic_trowel
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded">Most people seem to like the flat, clean effect of drywall. Drywall is cheap, goes up easily and doesn't take much acquired skill to learn how to tape, mud and finish the joints. Even drywall repairs are relatively painless. So what's not to like?<br /><br />
Maybe I'm just weird (well, there's probably no contesting that regardless) but I like plaster. I like the way side lights create shadows and textures over the natural unevenness of a plaster wall, giving it density and bulk.<br /><br />
The problem is that I absolutely suck at plastering. My plaster work usually looks more like adobe, with half of it winding up on the floor and the mix setting up before I can work it. What I used to do is use plaster to get the wall in the ballpark then add a finish coat of joint compound with a 12" blade, followed by copious sanding that left me, the room, and much of the rest of the house, looking like the set of The Polar Express. It was a tedious, laborious and dirty business.<br /><br />
Then I ran across a tool with the dubious name of <a href="http://www.texmaster.com/magictrowel.html" target="_new">Magic Trowel</a>.<br /><br /><img align="left" border="0" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3330/3487575748_5a993b6bdf_o.jpg" /> I watched a demonstration at a woodworkers show and it looked so easy. But I've been burned enough times by affable salesmen selling miracle niche market tools to know that my mileage may, and probably will, vary. I've got a box full of Magic Planes and Magic Coping Tools and Magic Drill Bit Sharpeners to attest to that.<br /><br />
But I knew enough about joint compound to know that the concept seemed solid: a wide squeegee blade instead of a hard-edged metal taping knife. It was worth a shot.<br /><br />
The verdict? It works very well! After extensive plaster repairs to my living room I skimcoated it in about two hours. Even better, I only had to give the 200+ feet of mesh tape I used to fix cracks just one coat of compound before skimming the wall with Magic Trowel. The compound lays down so thick that it sinks the exposed tape. It didn't completely eliminate the need for, or the mess of, dry sanding but it reduced it considerably.<br /><br />
So why not just use a garden-variety squeegee? Magic Trowel is different than a squeegee normally used for cleaning windows. The long flexible blade floats over the surface pushing down on high spots. The 30-degree angle on the outside edges reduces tension on the ends of the blade leaving minimal trowel lines. Those that it does create are easily sanded off later.<br /><br />
There's a technique to using <a href="http://www.texmaster.com/magictrowel.html" target="_new">Magic Trowel</a> but you pick it up pretty quickly. Texmaster has a <a href="http://www.texmaster.com/videos/newmtpcweb.wmv"><img border="0" src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/art/wmp_icon.gif" /> how-to video</a> on their web site demonstrating the technique (Windows Media Player only).<br /><br />
Use long strokes, top to bottom. Don't obsess on small divots or gouges. Those can be easily patched later. Instead, work quickly and use consistent pressure.<br /><br />
The video advises adding 8 ounces of water to a five-gallon bucket of joint compound to thin it out for rolling. I found that mixture to be a little too thick. In fact, I experimented with the mix by replacing one gallon of compound with a slightly soupy mix of plaster of paris and a couple of ounces of white vinegar to retard the plaster from hardening. It worked but you have to work even faster.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3034/2685492688_d3dd229137_o.jpg" target="new"><img class="floatleft" src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/photos/guestroom/guest07s.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; float: left; margin: 8px;" /></a> <i>(Click on the photo to expand it).</i> You'll need a painter's paddle and a torquey, variable speed corded drill to mix the compound. Warning: I damaged the collet on and practically overheated my Milwaukee drill mixing joint compound. Use a sustantial drill for this, not a cordless, not a Target red dot special! And do it at slow speed unless you want to be scraping compound off the dog.<br /><br />
If you do this over an existing old plaster wall, make sure it's clean and degreased. If the wall has anything other than a flat paint on it, scuff it up with an orbital sander. Wash it down with TSP twice and rinse it down thoroughly. I lay down a plastic sheet and cover that with a cotton dropcloth.<br /><br />
Work on vertical sections and don't let the edges dry out. As I said before, don't obsess with making the wall perfect at the expense of letting the compound get crusty. You can always fix it later. Also, keep your compound, the blade and the wall clean! Any foreign matter will create long gouges in the finish.<br /><br />
After the wall has dried, dry sand any high lumps, fill any gouges with a taping knife and give it at least two coats of primer/sealer. The compound will really suck up the paint so you need to seal it well before you roll your finish coat.<br /><br />
I had concerns about the softness of joint compound as a skim coating material but after four years in my entry hallway the finish still looks like the day I primed it. My guess is that the primer sucks into the compound, making it more durable. But that's just a guess.<br /><br />
Just keep your eyes on this tool because once your fellow tyromaniacs see the results they're going to want to borrow your Magic Trowel. Mine has done five houses. Unfortunately, they were casualities in one those houses, which had a bad basement fire. Gotta order some new ones.<br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/13" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">plastering</a></div></div></div>Sat, 02 Sep 2006 17:33:39 +0000Steve8 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comThe Basementhttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/house/basement
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><br /><img src="http://images.stevemanes.com/house/art/before.gif" border="0" /><table width="600" border="0"><tr><td colspan="3">
The basement was, well, a basement. Besides the obvious, the concrete floor had worn away to dirt in several places, there was evidence of severe termite infestation and the main beam had a serious looking crack. After adding a lally column for temporary support, the basement was so filled with obstructions that it would have been almost impossible to make it a functional living space (or in my case, a functional shop).
<br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td>
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<p>Click on any picture to expand it</p>
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The seller’s cousin shows me around the basement storage room. Note the crack in the main beam over his head.
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Another less obvious problem, including one missed by two termite inspectors, was the colony feeding on the joists underneath that funky old drywall.
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The first order of business was three days of gutting. The basement was littered with partition walls built from odds and ends apparently found on garbage pickup day. The stairway, or what was left of it by the termites, came down with a couple of well placed cuts of a Sawzall. Take a look at the angle on the john in the back. Guess where else those varmints hit.
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<td valign="top">
The next job was to rip up the concrete floor. As it was so thin and cracked, this was actually pretty easy. A sledge hammer, a crowbar and some strong backs were all that was needed. And a twenty cubic yard dumpster.
<p>Since this was the perfect time to replace the hundred year-old plumbing, trenches were dug and new no-hub was run and plumbing roughed in for a downstairs bath. It was easy work for me because I left these two jobs to licensed contractors. Hey, I pick my battles.
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I originally wanted to drop the finished floor six inches but a laser level put that idea to rest. The existing floor was waaaay out of level. To do so would have meant having to re-pitch all the plumbing underneath. So I settled on removing eight inches of dirt at the back and two at the front.
<br /><br />The upstairs waste pipe was also removed. It will be doglegged against the back wall at tie-in to remove yet another basement obstruction.
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With a great deal of angst but the assurance of an engineer who said that it existed mainly to take the bounce out of the upstairs floors, the main beam and posts were carefully removed in order to get a clean 3500psi concrete pour.
<br /><br />This really wasn’t the way to do it. While the house didn’t collapse, the upstairs plaster took a beating from it. It took a roll of mesh tape and three days of plastering to fix the hairline cracks.
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While the concrete cured, I went back to my dining room shop and began constructing treads and risers for the new basement stairs. A $1300 termite extermination gave me some assurance that this one wouldn’t suffer the same fate in the near future
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I got this much done in a day, thanks to a way cool stair tread system I saw on one of the home shows, <a href="http://www.ufpi.com/product/easyriser/index.htm">Easy Riser</a>. The hardest part was finding them. I eventually located a box in Indiana for $70. The treads were mounted temporarily while I finished the risers. A couple of scraps of 1/2" birch plywood served as a skirt board.
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The steam heat pipes, water, gas and most electrical have been relocated to the central soffet, next to the new steel I-beam. CAT-5 ethernet cable was pulled to a central punch block across the ceiling. A central vacuum was installed (Vacuflo, visible on the back wall in the new utility room). Temporary lighting was installed. A full bath has been rough-plumbed, vented and wired, along with a laundry alcove. A glass block wall replaced the old termite-ridden double-hungs and a kalamein security door was installed.
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Another angle. I still have to frame the party wall. You can see the drywall I need for that. I just have to move that one last piece of conduit and the ceiling will be ready for can lights and sheetrock. One issue came up in the very cold weather lately: the fact that I don’t have any basement radiators. It’s comfortable now but once the utility room and that soffet are closed in, it could get a bit outdoorsy down here. I hit upon a novel solution: installing forced air vents along the soffet and a small squirrel cage fan to evacuate heat from that 2" steam pipe, possibly triggered by a thermocouple on the pipe.
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Most of the drywall is up, taped and primed. 13 recessed lights replaced the temporary lighting, all running on X10 of course. The full bath is ready for tile and fixtures.
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View from the back. The ceiling will probably be the last thing I close in because there’s still a bit of wiring I need to do for the first floor
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The basement may not be finished but the shop is functional. So I'm moving on to other projects in the living areas. Those clamps are securing one of the French doors I'm building for the living room rehab. See all that dust on the pipes over the table saw? It's because of static electricity generated by the central vac pipe overhead. I get a lot of abuse for that red oak workbench I built.
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Three years later, with more tools.
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The basement bath is done, except for installing the doors. I'd like to say this was a painless job but just rerouting the plumbing to hide it under that pedestal lav, which I needed because of the restricted knee room for the john, took a weekend.
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The shower pan. This was a wonderboard, mud and liner job. Yes, I know the tile match is dubious. I started off building and tiling the shower and got a great deal on tumbled stone from a contractor overage. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough to do the entire bathroom and to buy this tile at retail would have blown the budget big time. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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view from the shop.
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I need to resize this shot, obviously.
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</tr><tr></tr></table><br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">carpentry</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/14" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">plumbing</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/16" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shop</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/42" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">basement</a></div></div></div>Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:56:00 +0000Steve45 at https://brooklynrowhouse.comShop Stuffhttps://brooklynrowhouse.com/house/shopstuff
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><h2>Shop Stuff</h2>
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This isn't my house. I mentioned on the home page how tasty the original woodwork was in these houses and how the previous owners of mine inexplicably ditched it all. This is the dining room in my neighbors' house. It's hard to believe that a hundred years ago this was how formula homes were built. You wouldn't find woodwork like this in a modern house costing seven figures.
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Originally, I wanted to replicate this without the dark stain but as I got into the project I decided to be a little more creative and a bit more practical.
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Labor Day weekend, 2002 was a rain-out so I holed up in the shop.
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I'm constructing the two built-in china cabinets for the dining room. One will be a media cabinet and the other a display cabinet.
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Faceframe construction. I was originally going to do this with solid lumber but I still had a lot of nice red oak plywood left over from the ceiling. I ripped some of the old oak from the original beams to use as banding to hide the plywood edge. I like the subtleness of the mitered picture frame detail on the faceframe and plywood adds dimensional stability you can't get with solid hardwood. Veneer plywood also makes it a lot easier to get matching grains, especially with lumberyard red oak.
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Much of the face frame will be concealed by column details, which will be solid oak... mostly recycled stuff.
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The faceframe had to be strong because these cabinets are going to be heavy, especially with stained glass doors hanging on them. So I biscuit joined the rails and stiles and used a pair of pocket screws at each joint. I resisted pocket screw faceframe construction as an artless shortcut because so much cheap prefab cabinetry uses it, but I'm a convert. It only took one project to sell me on how well it works.
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Frame assembly. Before this was done I half-lapped the edges for the side panels. I prefer using the router table for this, mainly because my Ryobi table saw sounds like it's about to grenade with a 3/4" stack dado set.
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Faceframe #2. When my tax refund arrives I'll make the decision between a Delta or Powermatic 66 replacement for the BT3000. Mainly, I need a saw on wheels so I can make room for an assembly table. Using the table saw for layouts is a pain.</td>
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The inside rails and stiles are glued and pocket screwed to the perimeter frame. These are solid oak, not plywood.
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The faceframes are done, awaiting sanding. The side panels are already cut and half lapped for the back. I've got to weasel someone with an SUV to help me haul a couple of sheets of 1/2" red oak ply for the back panels. My VW Golf isn't up to the task of plywood retrieval.
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Milling the rails and stiles for the cabinet doors. The lowers will have raised 11" panels made from laminated and biscuited 1x6 red oak blanks. The uppers will either be stained or mullioned glass. I haven't decided yet.
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Dry-fitting the the lower cabinet door frames. These are 1x2" red oak that I ripped from 1x6. To accomodate the raised panel, I used a pair of router bits called rail and stile cutters. If you've never made a raised panel door before, it's simpler than it looks. I used to think this was a black art. One cutter does the visible profiling around the edge and digs a 1/4" x 3/8" dado for the panel. The other cutter is a reverse profile for the perpendicular member. It's used on the end grain of the lumber of the rail. See below.
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I'm using the 'B' bit to cut the rail so it mates with the exposed 'A' cutter profile. The trick here is that you're cutting end grain which has a tendency to split out. You would normally back the rail with a sacrificial piece of scrap lumber to prevent tear-outs. Instead, I did this cut in several passes, which worked well enough. It's critical that the fence and guide be perfectly square and that the roller bearing on the bit is flush with the fence. The hardest part is getting the "B" profile bit to match the "A" profile's depth. You go through a lot of scrap lumber when setting up the bits so it's best to plan the cuts as a production line.
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Door construction. I built a jig to make sure the doors are assembled square.
<br /><br />The panel can't be glued or nailed into the rails/stiles because humidity will cause it to expand and contract, especially across the grain. It has to float in the frame.
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The panel cutter is the third bit in the exciting raised panel trilogy. There's not much to say about it. Cut across the end grain first so the perpendicular cut will remove any tear-out. Also, this should be done with a variable speed router set to low speed. Panel cutters are wide bits and the torque at a router's nominal speed can cause the carbide tips to fly off... not reassuring on a waist-level table tool and a bit spinning at 200mph.
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The lower doors are done, awaiting sanding.
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The upper doors frames are done. I'll decide this week what I want in those panels. Whatever, it will be leaded glass.
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I needed another photo to balance the page so here's a shot of the cabinets before the door installation. By the way, I've since removed the center stretcher in the upper cabinets. It was a useless obstruction.
<br /><br />If you're into this stuff, there will be a "Son of Shop Page" in the near future, if only because I haven't started the second floor renovation yet. I have big plans for that, including a bunch of computer room built ins. For now this project will continue on the <a href="http://cms.magpie.com/house/diningroom">Dining Room</a> page.
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</tr></table><br /><br /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">House:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">carpentry</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">finish carpentry</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/16" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">shop</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/20" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tile</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tools</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/taxonomy/term/23" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">woodworking</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/taxonomy/term/24" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">cabinetmaking</a></div></div></div>Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:38:02 +0000Steve49 at https://brooklynrowhouse.com